How I Came to Be
by Omgjelloz
Summary: Jet wasn't always a monster.  From that life changing day when he was 8, until the day he meet Team Avatar, this is the story of his downfall.  This is how he came to be.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"MY CABBAGES!"

That was his cue. With that, the vandal made a gracious bow toward the infuriated merchant. The imprint of malicious joy captured his portrait, fully aware of his little crime. The merchant shook in desperation, attempting to cradle the remains of his mauled vegetation.

"SECURITY!"

The words instantly whipped the mischievous expression from the boy's face. The merchant was one thing- harmless. But "The BIG guns", the town security- he was DEAD. One foot fell behind the other, and the kid was off and running. All he had was his agility. Against others his age, he was an unstoppable force of dynamite. But as for trying to outrun the fully grown professionals in pursuit, he had no chance.

He could hear the penetrating shouts of authority from behind.

From the side.

Crap.

And he crashed. Two hands grabbed the defeated prize, drawing a sack over his head. The boy knew where they were heading- and he gladly would have rather gone to prison.

The woman brushed off the remnants of flour from her outer garment as she opened the door. Her face fell flat.

It was her boy.

Again.

With a bag over his head.

She put a finger to her head and moaned. The guard carefully removed the bag, and the boy started inside. A firm hand grasped his arm, aborting his stealthy escape. The mother looked up at the guard with the same unaltered expression she had given a thousand times before.

"What was it this time?"

It was nearly an hour before dawn. The child lay wrapped beneath his blanket. A tiny hand lay upon his growling stomach, which had been deprived of the previous night's supper. He listened to the quiet world around him.

Silence.

Nothing unusual, nothing ominous. Just normal. Yet something….

Somewhere.

Somehow.

Something….

Something was wrong. The boy listened as the door slowly creaked open. He watched as the light hit the back wall of his room.

"Sweetie?"

His mother laid a gentle hand upon him.

"Sweetie-pie, wake up…Please."

The boy slowly sat up as his small hands rubbed his eyes. Tears were painted upon his mother's face, and the hand upon his shoulder shook. It shook as if she was…afraid.

"What's wrong, Momma?"

Silence.

His little palms wrapped themselves around her. He was afraid. Momma never cried. Never-ever. He buried his tiny face in her embrace. Even then, her heart seemed to quiver in fear.

"Momma, why are you shaking?"

The woman seemed taken aback. She absorbed the expression quickly, enough so that the mere child was naïve to miss it.

"Me…me and your father are cold, sweetie."

The boy stared blankly back at her. It was too much for the mother, and the tears only fell harder. With a painful effort, she managed to lay a pallid hand upon his cheek. She took a long breathe, trying to swallow the river drowning her spirit.

"I-I want you…I want you to go outside and get some firewood for us."

The child tilted his head in curiosity.

"But Mommy, it's so comfy. We don't need a fire. Daddy say if we's gets too hot, we's going to turn into roasted leechie nuts!"

The tears only continued to fall harder, but a small smile cracked through the woman's face.

"Honey…"

She pressed his little head against her chest. She stroked her fingers through his matted hair, gently pressing her lips against his forehead.

"I will always love you. Know that. And no matter what happens, what _they _do, promise me that you will never-"

A crash sounded. The mother's eyes grew large, and she pushed the child away from her.

"Go. GO NOW!"

"But Momma-"

"I said GO!"

The boy obeyed. His tiny fingers raised the sash, and he slipped his petite figure through the window. With one last look he saw his mother sitting upon his bed. He would never forget that petrified look on her face.

And then he ran.

Jet never looked back.


	2. Chapter 2

**To Jiao-Jie: **_**Thank you so much for writing the first review I've ever received on this site! It was very helpful. :) I tried to make the action sequence in this chapter a bit more vivid this time (although I still need some work XD)**_

**Chapter 3**

Jet stood petrified at the horrifying scene before him. The tears streamed down his small face. All he could see were the morbid flames before him, swallowing everything in their path. He screamed out in pain. Everything he had ever loved- his family, his village, his home- they were all dying before the innocent child's eyes. He couldn't bare it. Yet, he kept on staring as each inch of his soul was slowly engulfed and burnt to bloody ash.

Some thing cold slipped silently, so slowly against the child's bare skin, and a shiver penetrated through Jet's spine. He began to shake coldly in the heat of the fire. By some power, Jet felt his figure drawn back to glance behind him. He watched as the creature slivered back into the forest ahead. Its dark complexion blended all too perfectly with the black shadows below.

At that moment, Jet broke from his trance. He turned back around to watch the hell before him. He put his right foot forward.

But again, he froze. In disgust he finally saw it. Before him was the offender; the damned savage. The bare crown of the malicious murderer glistened in the fire, only covered by a ponytail that swayed in time with the flames. His head slowly came to look at the boy, cackling at the heartbroken expression.

The vile began to brew in the young boy's soul.

And Jet drowned.

In that moment, he tore at the soldier, embracing him with all his might. The man struggled, striking the boy continually, trying to push him away. But Jet continued to hold, letting his hand search until it found its way to the dagger situated upon the back of the man.

An ominous smile overtook his face.

The soldier's fist smashed into the child. Jet's eyes rolled back, and he fell to his knees. He screamed in excruciating pain as he watched his own blood gush onto the ground below. The pain was unbearable, but he had to fight. He refused to let them all die in vain.

Jet slowly stumbled to his feet and cried out in rage as he lurched forward towards the man. With each passing moment, he felt the dagger inch deeper into the man's thigh.

The world was silent.

Quiet.

Still.

He has never felt such a feeling before. Such joy in fury; such lust with pain. And he wanted more.

He felt another pound hit his head, and all the noise came back to life. Jet fell to the ground. His head was heavy, throbbing in agony.

The blood on his skin slowly became chilling.

Chilling to the point that he felt frozen…chilling to the point that he felt…dark.

And everything- every sound, every image. Everything was fading…

Jet slowly awoke, the sun screeching in his eyes. His lids could barely open for sight; they were heavily enshrouded by the crusted mask of blood. He lay there motionless for a while, trying to collect his thoughts. Trying to remember.

Yellow… yellow haze.

No, no. Not haze, but fire. At least, it had seemed that way.

And a snake. There was a snake.

Black shadows….

…and Momma…

Momma was dead.

Jet tried to move. He tried to lift an arm towards the sunlight, or even just a finger, but in each attempt to do so he failed. He was petrified, frozen with numbing agony. His limbs were as useless as the world before him. There was no use; they were gone.

He just closed his eyes, and did the only thing that he could do; he cried. He cried for his father. He cried for Momma. He cried for his home, for his friends. He even cried for the guards and the cabbage merchant.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Two days.

Two days since everything; every bush, every tree, every hope…

Everything had died.

Jet finally had the strength within him to move. Yet the pain still pushed upon him.

No.

It was nothing. Nothing compared to the barren waste land lying before him. Nothing compared to the snowy ash, mocking the forgiveness of the season, of those damned memories. It had no effect on him.

Two days, and the child finally found the strength inside him to go back. Momma still hadn't gotten her firewood. She told him to get it, and he wouldn't let Momma down. Not now. He had to do this. He had to…

Everything was so grey. On one side was the tarnished outline of a body, so corrupted that even its gender was a mystery. Another held that of a child lying alone, as if even his parents had left him for dead. The look on his face would be petrified for eternity. Forever it would stand with frozen fear. He never even had the chance to survive the attack. Not one person did. Jet continued to walk the path that he had fled on only two days before. But now there was no one left to chase after him. No one to put a bag over his head. No one to turn him over to Momma.

There stood that morbid frame, right before his eyes. He could close them and picture it's melted form, but it was no use. It was gone.

Jet took a final breath and closed his eyes. One by one, each small step brought him closer to the graveyard. As long as he kept them shut, he wouldn't have to see Momma's burnt corpse. But he would still feel it. With each advance, the feathers of the phoenix tickled his feet with no remorse. It was so quiet…

So lifeless…

Jet screamed out in pain. His eyes flashed open as he fell to the ground, caressing the pain upon the bottom of his foot. A deep wound had been torn open, giving birth to a heavy stream of blood. He whimpered, rocking back and forth. Eventually he looked up to gaze at the object that had snuck upon his foot.

They were daddy's swords.

Jet slowly outstretched one hand and grabbed the handle. He let his foot go, and bent forward to take the other. How strange he once thought they were; they looked more like his fishing hooks than weapons. But now they were the only thing that remained. The only piece of Daddy that was left.

Then someone moaned.

Jet eagerly jumped to his feet, attempting to swallow the pain that lurched through his appendage, alarmed by its presence.

It sounded again.

He slowly tried to limp towards its direction, but they poor boy's feet gave way. He continued to crawl, following the desperate tone ahead. A deceiving eternity passed before the child finally found his destination: a burnt home, like his. But now not even the mere foundation that held it together remained upon the ash.

The moan sounded again.

Jet squinted his eyes, attempting to find the composer of its tragedy. Not far off lay the unclaimed body of what appeared to be a child, partially reveal to the air from the ash below. Jet limped over and removed each fragment of rubble that had been pressing the child's chest to suffocation. His life had not yet been taken, but it was on the verge of becoming so.

Jet clenched the end of his matted sleeve and gently wiped away the ash from the boy's face. By his composition, the child must have been only a year or so younger than himself. He was a small creature, but his gauntly build made the assumption mute.

Jet felt a tear run down his cheek.

Finally.

He wasn't alone.

The boy woke up, rubbing his eyes as he attempted to adjust them to the small fire beside him.

He screamed.

He tried to escape but fell, only to find that his feet were numb, bandaged together in hopes to heal. He tried to pull them away, but the binding was just barely tight enough to withstand the boy (they were not bound together by any means of a professional; the wrappings were in such a state of disarray that only a child barely older than him at most could have done so). But his attempts only tightened their hold, and the boy only continued to whimper hysterically.

A small hand fell upon his shoulder.

The boy looked behind him.

"It's okay, you're gonna be safe now. I found you hiddin' in somes rubble and pulled you out. I ripped my sleeve off and tied it to you's leg so it would stop bleeding, that way you'd gets better."

The boy looked down and continued to cry. Jet hugged him in his little arms, trying to absorb both of their pains. They sat there amongst the silence for a while, trying to collect themselves.

It was quiet.

"It's okay, my Mummy and Daddy died, too. But now we's gots to stick together, 'cuz, we's the only family we's got left."

To Jet's surprise, the small boy suddenly pulled from his grasp. He reached over a took a small, bare slab of wood from the fire and placed it between the two of them. He pointed to the pair of blades situated near the other boy. He made an imitation as if to cut his finger, and then proceeded to let it dance around the surface of the wood strip. After attempting to decipher the child's means for a moment or so, Jet raised his eyes, understanding what the boy had meant.

"Oh, you's saying that we shoulds make a blood pact like those old tribes did? That way we'lls be brothers for life!"

The boy nodded back at him. Jet retrieved one of the blades from behind, pressing his finger gently against it to create a wound small enough to write his first intial into the tablet. He crossed his eyes slightly as he did so, sticking out his tough slightly, as if he was attempting to make an art of it.

"Tada!"

Jet held it up, revealing the crooked shape to the boy, handing it to him as he cut into his finger as well. The boy received the tablet, but continued to look blankly into it. Jet tilted his head in response to his strange reaction.

"What's a matter? You gots a name too, don't you?"

The boy looked down and sadly shook his head.

A queer idea was penetrated through Jet's mind, and his eyes light up.

"I knows! If I hadn't've heard your crying you'ds be dead right now. And you's really lucky 'cuz you were the only person I know who was in the fire and made it! So you're a longshot!"

The boy smiled and pressed his initials into the slab:

"L.S."

**Lol sorry I've taken so long to write this you guys. XD I've been really caught up in school and what-not. (But hey, on the bright side, I wrote a chapter that's over 1,000 words! :D)**

**To Jiao-Jie: Thank you SOOO much for that second comment. I literally ran up to my friend and we both started randomly jumping when I read it. XD And I'm actually about to see if the school library has that book you mentioned as soon as I finish typing this. XD  
**

**To Xamen: Thanks for both reviews! ;D And yeah, I was kind of dissatisfied with the ending of the second chapter, too. Keeping that in mind, I tried to pull off a better ending this time. ;D**


	4. Chapter 4

** Chapter 4**

Jet was pinned up from sleep early in the morning, awoken by the distant cries of a helpless soul. Having taken the forest as a home for nearly a year now, he had become accustomed to each soothing sound his domain made, and was alert at any sign otherwise (much to the dismay of his younger partner, being that it was barely dawn on a Saturday morning).

"Longshot, wake up."

The boy groaned.

There was NO way he was getting up at this time in the morning.

Jet shook his shoulder. No Luck.

Suddenly his eyes caught sight of the bucket so perfectly placed upon the edge of the opposite site of the tent. A malicious smile of evil swept across Jet's face. He picked it over, stumbling back to the target, attempting to keep its contents from attacking him. The boy's fingers slipped, and he dropped the bucket just as he reached his destination. Water engulfed the boy, and he shot up from his fetal position in shock. After a moment or so, Longshot rubbed his eyes and flashed a look of pure disdain at the culprit.

Jet merely shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

"Hey, you said that it ain't polite ta' pee in the forest."

…

The girl fell.

She couldn't keep this up much longer. For ten days she had been released from that tormented prison; for ten days she had been running in pursuit of her freedom.

Yet they always followed.

She couldn't keep going anymore. She was only a child, barely seven, and the density of the forest far exceeded her potential. There was a remotely simpler way to go about in the execution of her goal, but the girl knew that in doing so, it should only draw her adversaries with more ease. Amongst the rigorous pace of her breath, she let her eyes close, ready to give in.

"There she is!"

The girl felt a hand place a tight grip upon her wrist, and she was hoisted high into the air above. Its owner was accompanied by five others, each with the same malicious look of vile cruelty painted upon their portraits.

The girl began to cry.

She was scared.

They were so big. And tall. And evil looking. They were going to hurt her. She knew it. All she craved to do was to fall down to her knees and pray for her mother to be there, just this one time…

But Momma was never there.

She was always someplace else; always busying tending to one of the other of her sibling. Momma had never had enough time for her, despite how many times she had begged for it. She didn't even know her own daughter's name. The girl was like every one of the others:

Lost.

And for this reason alone, Ty Lee had chosen to run away.

The two boys watched intently from the shadows of a nearby tree. Disdain overtook the older one's face, scorning the guilty scum before him. The innocent lamb whimpered helplessly as the demon pulled her hands behind her, throwing the small creature to the ground.

Jet lashed out.

The unskilled duelist held a single blade as he advanced at the lieutenant, swinging it as if he were a blind man fighting for his life. But in his "artistic" execution of it, he place one foot far to close to the other, and he fell into the murky ground below. The soldier let the girl loose of his grasp for a moment, glancing at the lost attack from behind. He demeaningly laughed at the boy, who hung his head in a mixed emotion of shame and embarrassment.

That was his greatest mistake.

Ty Lee slammed her foot between the wrists that the lieutenant had refined, and the bindings flew across the forest floor. She jumped to her feet immediately, firming her appendages for battle.

The soldier turned. He let out an infuriated cry in the spur of the moment. He aimed at the girl and positioned to fire down to steal the breath of the pigeon below. But, she had the agility of a young goddess, and with a single move she gracefully crossed her arms between his. She just as quickly broke that grace with the next coming moment. She rapidly tore them apart, both knocking on the sides of his.

The soldier's arms fell limp.

He looked down at her with an expression of utter horror, and broke running. Another two soldiers advanced from behind. The girl had not even bother to glace back, yet her instincts allowed her to gracefully avoid the blow with perfect timing. Ty Lee lifted her body and defying the gravity below her. She pulled herself in, flipping her body around to face her opponents. Her legs bolted out, slamming into their faces.

They fell to the ground.

They were unconscious.

Jet's mouth fell in awe, intrigued by the display before him. She was beautiful. He had never seen anything do majestically violent in his life.

The girl's feet hit the ground, and she stood ready, proud and ambitious. Ty Lee was ready to take on _anyone_. The last duo left were merely young runts, and they shivered in the presence of the small child before them. She put one foot forward, as if she were to strike again (although the girl knew that such an action was unnecessary in their degree). Fear enlarged their eyes, and the two were off and running, screaming for their lives.

Ty Lee giggled playfully.

She turned to look at her "savior", so valiantly stuck in the murky ground below. Jet slowly rose to his feet, attempting to step forward, only to find himself reemerged in the dirty puddle. The girl continued to giggle, and extended a hand out to the boy, offering to help. Jet furrowed his eyebrows.

A girl.

No, not just a girl.

A girl _younger _than Jet had completely out skilled him in combat. AND she was _weaponless_.

"No thanks, I'm pickin' myself up."

"Oh."

The girl's face fell, hurt by her denied offer. Jet rolled his eyes. Why did girls have to be _SO_ dramatic _all_ the time? After a moment or so the girl glanced back at him, testing to so if he was altered by her "dampened" emotion. The boy sighed.

"_Fine."_

Jet wouldn't admit it out loud, but secretly this girl sparked his admiration more than anyone he had ever met.

_**Shout out Time!**_

**To ****.RubyT****: Than I shall keep writing! ;D**

**To Xamem: Thanks! (And Btw- your story was HILARIOUS! XD)**

**To Jiao- Jie: LOL I'll be sure to continue to give you special mentions then. XD (smiles maliciously) I you liked that, I can't wait for you to read how they meet Smellerbee. XD And Thanks ^_^**


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